Dated, despondent and pretty much a disaster, “Cell” plays like a series of nods to other science fiction-horror hybrids, notably “The Matrix” (1999) and Philip Kaufman’s 1978 remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” This isn’t so much a criticism of the movie’s source material — Stephen King’s paranoid and prophetic 2006 novel with the same title — as of a bare-bones screenplay (by Mr. King and Adam Alleca) that’s wholly unable to deliver even a smidgen of nuance or depth.

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A preview of the film.Published OnApril 27, 2016CreditImage by Internet Video Archive

Accordingly, unexplained events and unripened ideas simply accumulate as Clay (John Cusack), a graphic novelist, and Tom (Samuel L. Jackson), a phlegmatic railway worker, trek from Boston’s airport to somewhere in Maine. Having narrowly escaped a murderous mob of flesh eaters — the zombified victims of a mysterious cellphone signal — the pair (mobiles presumably on vibrate) must evade additional infected hordes en route to Clay’s estranged wife and son. That’s the sole hook on which our emotional investment in Clay hangs, and it’s not nearly enough — as Mr. Cusack seems to know, giving possibly the most detached performance of his career.

Even if it weren’t cheap-looking and dreary, “Cell” would still be hobbled by an entertainment landscape already lousy with zombies, and a hive-mind premise that — at least metaphorically — has been all but realized. (Its heedless infected, shuffling forward with eyes cast down, have a chilling real-world familiarity.) Only in the final seconds do we glimpse a possible focus for the narrative, but until then the director, Tod Williams (who in 2004 gave us the affecting Jeff Bridges vehicle “The Door in the Floor”) seems every bit as lost as his characters.

“Cell” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Stacy Keach is impaled, and a German shepherd is devoured.

Cell

Director

Tod Williams

Writers

Adam Alleca, Stephen King

Stars

John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Isabelle Fuhrman

Rating

R

Running Time

1h 38m

Genres

Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Movie data powered by IMDb.com

Cell

Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page C6 of the New York edition with the headline: Review: ‘Cell’ Offers Zombified Victims and an Unfocused Narrative. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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